Drury, Lundqvist help Rangers continue home dominance vs. Capitals

Nov 2, 2007 - 3:48 AM

By Larry Fleisher
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) - The New York Rangers still are looking for
goals, but at least they finally have a winning streak.

Chris Drury scored 6:45 into the second period and Henrik
Lundqvist made 31 saves as the Rangers inched closer to the .500
mark with a 2-0 victory over the Washington Capitals on
Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

Last in the NHL with just 21 goals, the Rangers have struggled
to consistently find the net and, as a result, had yet to put
together consecutive victories until improving to 3-1-0 on a
six-game homestand. They needed two power-play goals in the
third period to record a 3-1 win over Tampa Bay on Monday and
have been held to two tallies or fewer in eight of their first
11 contests.

One of the instances in which they managed three goals was an
October 12 meeting with Washington. New York scored three times
on the man advantage en route to a 3-1 win in that one but came
into this contest just 2-4-1 in its previous seven, scoring
just 10 times in that span.

"There really is a care and a desire to succeed together and
protect each other as we kind of fight through this," Renney
said. "Chris has done that in a very quiet, professional way,
and what it does is, it translates to his teammates to (play)
the same level of hockey on the ice."

"We've kind of bounced back from a tough start," Drury added.
"Hopefully, we've learned a lot in October, and we are looking
for better things in November."

After not getting a shot in the first nine-plus minutes of the
game and only seven in a scoreless first period, the Rangers
began to control play in the second. They had the first four
shots but were kept off the scoreboard as goaltender Olaf Kolzig
stopped Brendan Shanahan on a breakaway, dived to rob Drury of
a goal and got his glove on a point-blank attempt by captain
Jaromir Jagr.

The Rangers finally broke through moments after Shanahan and
Drury failed to execute a give-and-go near the doorstep.
Shanahan was able to intercept a clearing attempt and dished the
puck to Marc Staal.

Drury parked himself in front of Kolzig and tipped the rookie
defenseman's blast from the left point for a 1-0 lead. It was
Drury's second goal as a Ranger and first since scoring the
game-winner in the season opener against the Florida Panthers on
October 4.

"It was a nice play by Shanny," Drury said. "He got it back to
Marc and I was just in the right place, and I was able to get a
tip on it."

The assist was the first career point for Staal, who was drafted
12th overall in 2005.

"It's been a few games," the 20-year-old said. "When you get
the first point, it feels pretty good. It was a great tip by
Drury. It was a lot of fun."

Drury also set up New York's second goal, which was scored
during a 5-on-3 advantage with 10:26 remaining in the contest.

Defenseman Michal Rozsival finished the play when he converted
Scott Gomez's cross-crease pass from the left side of the
crease. The Rangers nearly scored again on the power play, but
Kolzig denied Petr Prucha.

Lundqvist continued his stellar play for the Rangers as he
recorded 10 saves in each of the first two periods and 11 in the
third. It was the Swede's third shutout of the season and 10th
career.

"I feel good," said Lundqvist, who has played in each of New
York's 12 games this season. "I feel in great shape. It's all
about confidence, too, and I get confidence from the way the
team is playing. I feel like we're in more control in a lot of
games this year than last year. Even though we haven't got the
wins, we've been playing a solid hockey game."

Lundqvist's shutout was New York's first against Washington
since December 18, 1995. Since allowing three goals in the
second period of Saturday's loss to Toronto, the netminder has
yielded just a penalty-shot tally by Tampa Bay's Vincent
Lecavalier in two games.

"I think for any team, your goaltender always gives you a chance
to win," Shanahan said. "He's certainly been great from the
very start of the season. Tonight, he was the first star and he
kept us in the game in the first period. He played great
throughout, but in the first period, it was really just him."

In that first period, Lundqvist made two nice saves on Capitals
star Alex Ovechkin. He robbed former teammate Michael Nylander
and defenseman Brian Pothier in a 28-second span in the middle
session and ended the period with consecutive stops on Matt
Pettinger.

During a four-minute power play for Washington late in the
third, Lundqvist made consecutive saves on blue-liner Mike Green
and Viktor Kozlov to preserve the shutout.

"We had good chances in the first and in the third. He played
unbelievable," Ovechkin said of Lundqvist. "He won the game
tonight for the Rangers."

"I can't complain about what we were doing," Capitals coach Glen
Hanlon said. "Viktor had eight shots on goal. We had lots of
scoring chances. I don't know what the final tallies are, but
we certainly had enough not to be shut out."

Kolzig finished with 26 saves for Washington, which has dropped
its last seven visits to Madison Square Garden dating to January
28, 2004. He also withstood a collision with Drury and
Pettinger at 10:53 of the opening period.

The Capitals were blanked for the first time this season and
have dropped seven of their last nine games since opening the
campaign with three straight wins.